Canon PowerShot S5 IS Bridge Camera

Canon S5 - Best camera I've had (I'm a non-professional, amateur at best)

Strengths: - Amazing picture quality - More than enough options for a photography enthusiast - Great features between a point-and-shoot and slr but only at P&S prices

Weaknesses: - none if you get the right stuff (i.e. get rechargable batteries, and a highspeed sd card)

Summary: This is my third digital camera, and first canon. The first 2 were sony's (s75 and w70) and I absolutely love this canon. I keep my w70 (compact) for casual/fun shots like at parties. I've only owned my s5 for ~3 weeks.

I was considering the s5 or the G9. But price was the main determinant for me, I got the s5 for $273+tax when it was on sale. And I'm not a pro, not by a long shot. I only know to try to adjust the exposure value.

I only bought it the day before leaving for a amsterdam/belgium vacation. It was very easy to use (having not read the manual). Don't make the mistake I did, get yourself rechargable batteries. I put in regular energizers and it gave me low battery warning after ~80 shots (I was using the lcd too). I went and bought the energizer lithium ion batteries and used the viewfinder mainly (occasionally using the lcd screen) and got another 500 shots without the battery going out.

I got beautiful shots. So happens my friend had a G9 and comparing our amateurish pictures, I couldn' tell the difference. The 12x optical zoom is really nice! Especially coupled with image stabilization (I did not have a tripod with me, but little tricks I learnt - like stabilizing my camera holding arm against a wall or lamppost helps).

It's true, the lenscap does come off very easily (actually that helps when my other had is full and I can turn on the camera with one hand - probably shouldn't do it too often though). But it's not really a problem, if it happens it's usually only when I'm taking it out of the camera bag (which is fine since I'm intending to take pictures anyways).

All in all, it's the best camera I've ever had. Amazing picture quality and enough options for a photography enthusiast but non-professional. And at the price of pointandshoot cameras, it's a great buy!

excellent camera

Strengths: camera is great for all around, good quality pics that when printed off on printer can t tell difference of this and prints at a print shop

Weaknesses: not a whole lot

Summary: i would recommend this camera to anyone looking for above average photos with great zoom. great for someone looking for a good quality picture but not the the expensive price. love this camera, very nice.

Canon S5 IS is VERY nice!

Strengths: -Great video quality & stereo sound -Incredible pic quality -Uses standard AA batteries! -Supports SDHC format -Supports audio notes on stored images -customizable sounds for camera functions -

Weaknesses: -No RAW image support -No rechargible batteries or charger included

Summary: Best combination of features and quality in its price range. If you are shopping in this range, you won't do better than this. May come close, or match... but not better!

You may hear that the lens cover comes off too easily. Nonsense! It's not like it falls off by simply moving the camera around or turning it over. It stays on unless you bump it or take it off. And consider this: It covers a lens that extends outward from the camera body every time you turn on the camera. And sooner or later you will forget to remove the cover before you turn on the camera, And when this happens the cover simply pops off, with no strain or damage to the zoom lens or the tiny gears inside. Clever!

Also. I ordered from Buydig.com on Wed 1/9/08 using free 7-9 day delivery. Received via Fed-Ex on SAT afternoon 1/12. SAT Delivery? Wow! And the Fed-Ex guy apologized for not getting to me sooner in the day. What a great experience so far.

About memory- Order a min of 2GB... for the price, less is just not worth it. Also, have a backup plan. If you order an 8, 16 or 32 GB card just for the convenience of having 1 card that will outlive all your needs... consider what happens if it fails or is lost when you are traveling. You are basically out of film! And, you may lose massive amounts of pictures/irreplaceable memories. Consider several 2 or 4 GB memory cards instead... or an 8GB and one or two 2 GB cards. Have a backup plan! One more thing on memory- the SDHC cards are HIGH MEMORY CAPACITY - and not necessarily high speed! Meaning, you can get a "regular" SD 2GB card that may be WAY faster (time it takes for the camera to store images to and retrieve images from the card) than a 4, 8, 16 or 32 GB SDHC card. Speed is an important factor in determining how quickly you can take one picture after another. Why get a nice fast camera and then slow it way down with a slow memory card. Search the web and understand the diff between speed and storage capacity. Buying two or more nice 2 or 4GB 133x speed or 150x speed cards may be what you really want, rather than a single and possibly slower high-capacity card. And dont forget that having only one card puts all your eggs in one basket. That could be hundreds or thousands of eggs (pictures) depending on the card and picture quality settings!

And for Pete’s sake.... get decent rechargeable batteries! And make sure they are at least 2700mAh NiMH batteries. And, equally as important as the batteries (perhaps MORE important) is that you get a good charger! DO YOUR RESEARCH!

Canon PowerShot S5 IS

Strengths: Excellent quality photos, ability to go from super macro to 12x zoom almost instantaneously

Weaknesses: Noisy in low light

Summary: I'm a huge fan of Canon cameras. I started with the A85; within a year I got the PowerShot S2 IS and now, needing more MP to permit good-quality prints after some cropping, got the S5 IS. I couldn't be more pleased. I prefer the viewfinder to the LCD screen, but it's neat that it's a bit larger now, and that it articulates is helpful in situations where I must shoot something from an odd angle.

I haven't gotten an external flash yet but like that I can, and will.

I knew from reading pre-purchase reviews that shots above 400 ISO would be noisy, and they are, and I wouldn't shoot above that except for record shots.

The manual is well written and easy to understand, but sometimes one needs assistance from a live person and one of the other reasons I like Canon is its easily accessible toll-free tech support service. Helpful people are almost just moments away. I have rarely if ever waited more than a few minutes for one to answer the phone.

Canon Powershot S5

Strengths: Nice LCD..Hot Shoe for slave flash..Eash to use

Weaknesses: None so far..except len cap falls off easy like S2IS camera

Summary: This camera is replacing my S2IS canon and I'm very happy with the inprovements. Pictures are very clear..clean looking. You get a lot for your money with this camera. I purchased a couple lensmate adapters to add filters like I did on the S2IS camera. Then you can buy a good fitting lens cap that doesnt fall off easy. I was going to buy SLR but I wanted video and LCD preview of picture that I was taking. This cameara was worth the upgrade and pretty cheap price for what your getting. A fun camera to own with a nice zoom for close up pictures.

A very good prosumer camera

Strengths: Fast and fairly sharp 12x zoom, IS, new hot shoe, great movie mode, Canon image quality, fast performance

Weaknesses: SD slot in battery compartment, flash must be raised manually, some noise in images

Summary: This was something of an impulse purchase for me. I bought the S5 right upon its release when no reviews were available at all. I had stopped by to look at DSLRs, and walked away with this instead. I'm sure most DSLRs will sport better image quality, and the salesman pointed out that the lower-end DSLRs didn't cost very much more than the S5, but think about a few things:

+ Those low-end DSLRs are coming with 18-55mm lenses. To get the same zoom range, one must buy a another lens and carry both around, or buy a long-range zoom lens (which aren't as fast for DSLRs). Pricey and not very convenient.

+ Those entry DSLRs won't have IS.

+ Changing lenses subjects the image sensor to dust.

+ They're a lot bigger, too.

After thinking about it, getting the same features in DSLR was going to cost a LOT more, and I'd have to carry around a bag full of equipment. The S5 would see a lot more use and grab a lot more pictures. This camera has 90% of the capability and image quality of those DSLRs with a more flexible lens and a far more friendly form factor. The S5 works well on full auto mode, but also has plenty of opportunities for tweaking manual controls - even offering manual focus.

A couple of nice improvements over the S3 are the new flash hot shoe and the bigger, higher resolution screen. Red-eye is an issue, but the upgraded Digic III processor has a red-eye removal tool on the camera (and free software packages with that tool are everywhere anyway).

Some questionable decisions include the move of the SD card slot to the battery compartment. The card cannot be changed while the camera is on a tripod. It would have been nice if the built-in flash popped up automatically when needed. The flash takes a little longer to recharge than I would normally expect from a 4xAA battery-powered camera. Some people hate AAs; li-ion batteries generally hold more power in a smaller and lighter battery. However, it's easy to find AAs if you're stuck with dead batts.

Like all cameras which pack so many pixels in such a small sensor, noise is an issue. It's only objectionable at ISO 400+, and many 400 and 800 shots will be usable for 4x6 prints. Though, the noise seems no more objectionable to me than samples of S3 photos I've seen - a surprise with the higher pixel count.

Also, the movie mode on the S5 is great. The S5 records stereo sound, and removes the S3's 1GB limitation (now 4GB). You can use the optical zoom in movie mode, too.

I'll attach a few images you can consider. They're straight from the memory card except the ISO 800 shot was recompressed because it was larger then PGs 3MB limit.

Canon Powershot S5 Digital Camera

Strengths: Light weight. High quality images. Easy to operate. 12X optical zoom is great.

Weaknesses: None found so far.

Summary: My wife was looking for a replacement digital camera. Her old camera had been in use for about 4 years and she wanted to upgrade to something with more features as her experience with photography grew.

We looked at a number of cameras and found that this model met her needs. It allows her to use an AUTOMATIC mode when she wants but also allows her to have full control of the camera settings for special types of photography.

The camera fits her hand well and is light enough for her to carry around without it becoming a burden.

We looked at some smaller cameras but the control features and image quality were not there. While other cameras give 8MP images, the lenses were smaller on the smaller cameras.

Also, the 12x optical zoom is very useful when taking pictures of wildlife.

Close up capabilities are also very good with this camera.

Best camera around

Strengths: Light Great lens Fast

Weaknesses: No interchangeable lens no wide angle

Summary: My wife had the S3 and just upgraded to this one, principally because of the hotshoe (flash) mount. It's slightly heavier than the S3 (about 4 oz more), but still weighs only about 20 ounces even with batteries. The lens is fantastic, as is the focusing speed and shot-to-shot time. You'll want to use Lithium (e.g. E2) batteries for fastest response. Also I'm using a 150x SD Card from Transcend, which makes a big difference. Anyway, the only nit I can pick is that it would have been nicer if the lens started at 28mm instead of 35mm in order to get near-wide angle coverage.

A powerful camera

Strengths: 12x optical zoom, large LCD, compact design, video button,noise cancellation

Weaknesses: flash can only be raised manually, loose lens cap.

Summary: I've had this camera for two weeks. Really like it! Focusing and shooting is very quick, and the superfine mode 3264x2448 gives you great details, although each image file is about 4MB. Wind noise cancellation is one of the nice functions I like. The large and rotatable LCD is a good design, but not perfect:the rotation around the LCD long axis has limits, and continuous rotation will be nice.

Also the lens cap is pretty loose, which is bad. It easily knocked off when I take the camera out of the bag. Also, in auto mode, the flash doesn't pop up automatically when the lighting is insufficient. Instead the camera prompts you to lift it manually. This is annoying because I'm so used to my Canon Elan SLR, which was bought 5 years ago and came with the auto-lift flash.

Great CAMERA!!! Canon's are the best!

Strengths: VideoCamera, 8MP, articulating screen, image stabilization, flash hot shoe

Weaknesses: none for me!

Summary: I've been using the "S" series since the S1. I've had this for only 5 days, but I anticipate another 10,000 pictures out of this. These have been the perfect combo cameras. People have different things they like about a camera or different reason for buying a particular camera. Let me tell you why I bought this one:

1. I call it a movie camera, because it takes movies at 640x480 at 30fps. Great for soccer games, swim meets etc. Plus you can zoom in out while shooting a movie with stereo sound. It has a dedicated movie button so you're always ready to capture a movie. And believe me, I was thankful for that button when my littlest one would do something cute.

2. Articulating screen. The LCD on the back swings out, up, down and all the way around to the front. I've taken pictures from over my head or down by the floor and from side to side. I'll never get a camera without a moveable LCD on the back. Again, I've captured shots others would dream about.

3. Image stabilization. This works for both movies and photos. I'll never have a camera without it again.

4. 12x OPTICAL zoom. Gets me real close to the action without standing in the front. Great for my soccer games. Equivalent to 36-432mm on a 35mm camera.

5. AA batteries. I used rechargeable, but if they die, I can grab any 4 AA's and keep on shooting. A must for any travel.

6. Hot shoe. This has been the been the best upgrade. I've already got the flash for my G6, so this will be handy.

7. 8MP sensor. Always nice to get more 'cropping' space.

Very nice zoom, and great outdoor pictures

Strengths: The zoom, small size, and color accuracy

Weaknesses: indoor picures (lowlight pictures = noise) are it's only real weakness here

Summary: Well first I should say that the only other camera I've owned in the last tree years is the Sony f828, so I'm basing my review against that. I wanted a change because that camera was too big and heavy for casual use.

The Canon S5 camera is a lightweight plastic camera with an excellent zoom range. Outdoors it performs very well with wonderful true colors and way too many option to list. Infact I would say there is a steep learning curve for a novice, or someone new to the canon format. I fall into both of those categories. Most of the buttons have more than one use and that use changes between shooting mode or playback mode. Bottom line if this is your first canon purchase plan to spend sometime learning how to use it.

As for indoor photos, well few cameras will do great, and this one is no exception. You must use flash or a tripod to keep the image sharp (more important when using the zoom). The IS stabilization feature works, but not like you'd think, the camera still needs to be steady. A bounce flash would be a great addition for indoor pictures, but cost can be the same as the camera!!

I think the biggest canon S5 'plus' for me is how accurate the auto white balance is, and how true the colors seem.

As for the lens cap falling off, I for one am very happy it comes off easily (very easily) twice now I forgot to remove it when powered on (which makes the lens zoom out). If it had stayed on, I really think the camera would have been damaged.

Bottom line I think this is a great camera with lots of fun options.

Canon Powershot S5 Digital Camera

Strengths: Solid Body, Good Photo & Video Quality

Weaknesses: Should have better zoom

Summary: I recently upgraded from the Canon Powershot S5 IS from the Canon PowerShot S2. While I am pleased with the upgrade, I was hoping for a bit more in the Canon S5.

Don't get more wrong though - the Canon S5 is a good, solid camera. However, now that we're on the 4th generation of the S-series Canon Cameras (Canon skipped the S4), I was hoping for an upgrade in the zoom from 12x optical. The Canon S2 had a 12x optical zoom, and still, in the S5, a 12x optical zoom is present.

On the bright side, I noticed a slightly improved photo quality on this camera verses the S2. This camera also is capable of recording in stereo mode, which is great for those recording clips of live events such as concerts - where the sound quality is important.

This is a good, quality Canon camera, but if you already have the S2 or S3, I am not sure it is worth the upgrade.

Best camera under $300!!

Strengths: -Excellent pics in "P" mode at ISO80, with Vivid Color Mode -Decent zoom -BEST video mode for cameras in this price range -Full manual controls for those willing to indulge in that -Add-ons

Weaknesses: -Low light limitation incl weak flash -Noisy at more than ISO200 -No wide angle lens

Summary: I bought this during a special at Dell ($286 with 2GB mem card combo) and this was after I bought and returned the Panasonic Z18 from CCity.

After 3 weeks of ownership, I stay firm with my decision! The canon S5 is the most versatile camera under $300 and with the ability of add-ons like Macro, PL, UV lens/filters, the results are endless.

While I liked the Z18 for its wide-lens and high zoom, anything higher than ISO80 were noisy. That camera suffered from low-light shooting too but it was worse than the S5. The video quality is also nowhere as good as the S5.

IF you download the CHKD hack, then you will more options open up to you but I'm perfectly happy with the defaults for now.

And, STAY AWAY FROM AUTO MODE!!!! U'll be disappointed and will bad mouth the camera even though its not the camera's fault.

Use the Program mode, ISO 80, Vivid color mode and the camera wont let you down...I guarantee you that.

Here's a photo of the Golden Gate bridge that I took with my S5 last weekend.

Hope this helps

SS

Canon S5IS

Strengths: 12x optical zoom, face AF

Weaknesses: not much of an improvement from S3 IS

Summary: I bought this S5 IS as an upgrade to my S3IS. I didn't expect this to be much of an upgrade, but I tried it out in a retail camera store, and verify that the AF is better than before, esp. at full zoom. I already have a DSLR for pictures, and I am using this only for its video capability. Would not recommend it as an upgrade to the S3, but I think it's worth it for me, just for the improved AF when zoomed in, during video recording.

Nice camera ..but Canon could have done better

Strengths: Size, features, large LCD, full manual control, 8m pixel, 12X zoom

Weaknesses: battery life, LOTS of noise, poor design of lens cover

Summary: I love S5's compact size. It feels great in my hand. As a point-and-shoot type of person, 'Auto' shooting mood fits me perfectly. Besides that, S5 offers the flexibility of manual controls(shutter speed, focus and aperture). With enough lighting, the picture quality is AMAZING!

However, the major weaknesses is the noise, which is worse than S3. It might be the result of S5's higher resolution (S5's 8m vs S3's 6m). But at a low ISO, the noise is barely noticeable.

S5's lens cover falls off easily. I find it very annoying, especially when I am traveling. With a larger LCD, S5's battery life is shorter than S3.

Over all, S5 is a nice camera. Although packed with features, it barely shows any advantage over S3, picture wise. Canon could have done a better job (i.e. a new lens, a larger sensor etc).